The Grand Canyon Trek (Part 4)

I decided to hike an additional 4 miles roundtrip to Phantom Ranch to mail some postcards.

Nick went with me to make sure I wouldn't get lost.

On our last day Nick woke us up at 5:00 AM in order to get an early start for the 4.5 mile hike to the South Rim with full backpacks.  We got started about 7:30 after eating breakfast and packing everything up. We made it to the rim at about 12:30 PM after a strenuous hike. 

This was a truly great adventure.

Gunter and I spent two additional days at the South Rim. We did two rim hikes and attended several ranger presentations.

On the way back to Phoenix we stopped at Sedona for a day and did a hike in the Verde Valley.  We also visited the  Tuzigoot National Monument.

The Grand Canyon Trek (Part 3)

The goal for the first day was to hike down the Bright Angle Trail to Indian Gardens.  The distance for this part of the hike is 4.5 miles with an elevation change from 7200 ft. to about 4000 ft. 

After reaching Indian Gardens and resting for a while we setup the campsite and pitched the tents.  The plan for late afternoon was to hike, without backpacks, to Plateau Point for a great view of the sunset and to eat dinner.  The roundtrip distance for this portion of the hike was 3 miles.

The next day, Tuesday, most of the group hiked to the Colorado River a round trip distance of 6 miles with an elevation change of about 1800 ft.

The Grand Canyon Trek (Part 2)

Wupatki - Indian ruins built on the desert.

We finally got to the Grand Canyon via the East Entrance at about 4:00 PM (Picture 6).

We stopped at the Dessert View viewing area and got our first look at the Grand Canyon.  We also walked a few hundred feet down the Bright Angel Trail to get a feel for what we were in for.

The next day Monday April 19th Nick, the guide we hired, picked us up at our motel at 6:30 AM and took us into the park for the start of our adventure.  Nick works for Sky Island Treks, the company that made all the arrangements for our trek and they did an excellent job.  We ate breakfast, packed up our gear and headed for the Bright Angel Trail Head for the start of the trek, at about 9:00 AM.

The Grand Canyon Trek (Part 1)

Joe Cohen and Gunter Ludwig started there Grand Canyon Adventure on Saturday April 17,2004.

We flew from Philadelphia to Phoenix, stayed overnight in Phoenix, and the next day we drove to the Grand Canyon.  On the way we stopped at four National Monuments and did a little sightseeing.

Montezuma Castle - Early Indian ruins, built on the side of the hills, where Indians lived  from about 1100 AD to 1500 AD.

Walnut Canyon - We took a short hike and got a close look at early Indian ruins.

Sunset Crater - Nice view of large cinder fields from early lava flows.  We got a nice view of Mt. Humphries when we climbed up to Lenox Crater.